playing catch up

Well this week has been pretty exciting in that I finished the first pad of

paper for pens, (40 pages well spent) and upgraded to a bigger size for

more drawings per drawing. I also got three more shows lined up since

I took down the show at Blue Jay on Tuesday. So pencil it in:

Luv-a-Java for the month of June (26 x Dolores)

SoCha for the month of August (Mission x Valencia)

Revolution Cafe for the month of September (22 x Bartlett)

Also in the week's news, Jesse and I gave my bike a total makeover, with

new brake levers and brake cables, new brown handlebar tape, a shiny

new longer seat post, and a rack and panniers for this weekend's camping

trip! We'll be riding up north in a modest 7-person pack. The route will

look something like this:

The only bummer is I went and got myself sick! I'm hoping that chugging

tea and orange juice will do the trick, and I'll be riding good as new

tomorrow morning. So here's hoping, and here's some drawings:

buzz buzz buzz

Coffee has gotten the better of me. Who'da thunk?

More draw'ns from these wired eyes:

Just some doodles from park after the Carrot Mob mobbed the Duboce Park Cafe.

The Carrot Mob brings a bunch of people to businesses in return for the business

using part of their profits to green their operation. Cool stuff.

Anyway. I am not getting evicted, so that's good, and I can take my time thinking

about moving out, which I've been thinking about (although thinking about

walking everything downstairs is enough to keep me here for a while longer.).

Today was day 3 in the cafe. It's wearing on me; I had 4 drunk customers before 9.

for your thirst

fail-proof sangria.

ingredients:

wine (cheap)

fruit (any)

sugar

cinnamon

chop fruit, add wine, sugar and cinnamon to taste. it'll take a decent amount

of sugar depending on what fruit and wine you use, add sugar until it's just

under-sweetened, the fruit should do the rest. let it sit overnight in the

refrigerator. serve with ice, maybe mint.

a friend of mine adds lavender to her sangria. it's pretty great.

woah

Color.

What a cool thing.

money better spent than paying rent

I'm relaxing in my room to the sweet sounds of the jackhammers down the

street, tempered with some songs from Joanna Newsom's new album, which

I recommend.

I spent the day at the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. It was a little

steep getting in, but worth it. The show up right now is a 3 day special where

florists were invited to make living interpretations of a piece of art in the

collection. Some of them were to die for, all of them smelled great, and there

was a fun hat contest running all day, so the crowd was as entertaining as any.

I didn't draw too much at the museum, as I was overwhelmed with visual input,

which felt great. But aside from feeling great, I have a storm cloud of possible

eviction hovering just ahead, which feels horrible! Hoping that sorts itself out,

if not, expect some blogging down-time as I pack up and go...somewhere.

more and more!

Finished the watercoloring:

Started the day off with a quick coffee-and-bus-stop sketch:

With these two guys opportunely riding across from me on the J train:

Since I hadn't biked to work this morning, I needed to jet, so I timed myself

riding out to Ocean Beach. Unfortunately, I rode way too hard and ended up

with the same time. I went to Java Beach to rest up, hydrate, get rid of my jelly

legs, and draw my favorite drawing of today:

Productivity feels SO damn good. Also, all of these drawings from the last few

posts have been drawn with the SAME PEN! I feel like I just tripped over the

Holy Grail.

etc

I went to a meeting tonight at which we discussed what to do with a 15,000 sq.

ft. warehouse, with residential and commercial zoning, with a 20-year lease and

a whole bunch of artist-nerds. Needless to say, the words "awesome," "crazy"

and "spaceship" got totally abused, and it was all hilarious. Also exciting.

Here's Geoff starting off the meeting:

and an innocent MUNI victim on the way home (I took today off from biking

in order to get some public transit drawings in. This is the only drawing worth

mentioning, and I don't know if it was worth giving up the ride for, but at least

it's something). Apologies for the lack of focus.

a quick note for micron pen users

this "paper for pens" is the only paper i've ever used that has had virtually

no effect on the tip of a micron. hoorah for not killing pens at the end of

every drawing, I highly recommend it!

and then some

I ran into my friend Najeeb, who I met when I interviewed to work at Pixar

(when I still lived in Cambridge), at the coffee shop tonight. I had gone to

draw, he had gone to draw, so we joined forces against our mutual drawing

-stage-fright and I knocked these out. It was relaxing compared to my

previous cafe experience of the day, which involved calling an ambulance

to stick some fluid in the drunk man who had been sleeping at one of our

tables for several hours, and who had on his person two empty pints of vodka

and a hospital wristband.

Turtle Hill:

Progressing on the watercolor:

and some people!

while the batteries charge...

got a crop of new drawings, on new paper, bought for the zoo drawing day.

I'm psyched about the paper; it's called "paper for pens" and it's an

"ultrasmooth" bleedproof vellum. Totally lovely to draw on.

Batteries are charging for my camera, but in the meantime, please enjoy this

smoothie recipe:

1 banana

1 orange (i used half for the fruit and half for the juice)

small handful of mint leaves

1 pitted date

seltzer or water

ice

blend!

the mint really makes it.

Also, I just cleared off my table for the first time since getting it, so I'm

hoping for a the productivity chart to get a little more vertical. Also I beat

my fastest time to the beach and back this evening, 41 minute roundtrip.

New tire on the front wheel, so no more pinch flats (phew!) and I got my

pedal fixed so it doesn't klu-clunk every go-around.

So all's well over here.

zooless!

I got to the Oakland Colosseum station, 4 miles west of the Oakland Zoo,

two sketch pads on my back and coffee getting to work in my brain, when

my front brake cable snapped!

After a cursory side-of-the-road fix-up, all signs (and a call from Jesse)

said riding was a terrible idea: I didn't know the area, whether it would

be uphill or down (it was bound to be one), where I'd get stranded...

So no zoo for me. I swapped out the cable no problem when I got home

using a cable I happened to find on the street a while back. All excitement

aside, I was a little worried about getting so much sun, and I have the

equivalent of growing pains in my right arm running up through my neck,

so drawing would have been a feat, bike ride or not.

Next time I guess.

My first forays in Russian Hill. Someone pointed out that it was funny I was drawing

these houses, while the view of Alcatraz was just behind me. I liked that.

Other news! My show at Blue Jay Cafe has been extended a few weeks, if any of

you haven't gotten around to seeing it yet, and this Saturday I got the day off

work at the cafe to audition as an artist-in-residence at the Oakland Zoo, getting

paid to draw animals and people!

Psyched.

Well I alleviated the monotony of filing my taxes by eating a bowl of coconut

milk ice cream topped with spiced candied kumquats. Let me tell you, it made

the job easier (albeit a little sticky).

Spiced Candied Kumquats:

handfull of kumquats, quartered

fresh ginger slices

water

maple syrup/agave/sugar/honey

cinnamon

cloves

put all in a pot and bring to a boil, let it simmer for a little bit, take it off the

heat. it tasted better the next day.

Of course I also took a break between filing federal and state taxes to do some

drawing. My feet took me to Velo Rouge Cafe, even though I was set on going

to the Mission, but it worked out, and I ended up meeting someone who has a

show up at Mojo Bike Cafe of really well-done bike-themed watercolors. He

showed me his sketchbook, which reminded me a lot of my old books (but was

better), and it was a really great little reality check. I think I've been much too

introverted in terms of inspiration, and have forgotten to be looking at other

people's work. Phew!

It's gonna get some watercolor, stay tuned.

a note on finding importance

I'm sitting in my overstuffed chair with two drenched bike rides' worth of clothing

drying on my heater, downing my second cafe americano and putting off filing my

taxes, so of course it's time for a dubiously useful blog post. Here goes.

With the buzz of waking up too early quenched by too much coffee, my head has

been finnagling its way into vaguely philosophical territory. All I've been doing

lately is cooking, biking, drawing, and working in a coffee shop. Of those four, I've

been drawing the least, even while that is the only one that leaves a product (apart

from dirty dishes and bigger quads). Cooking feels great, fulfilling even. But when

I think about it, hours of cooking and shopping and planning and cleaning go into

each day of food-prep, for a tasty few bites and maybe a photograph, and I somehow

find it important. It doesn't really make sense, unless I think about it from the

mindset of it's-important-to-stay-alive or it's-important-to-be-happy-at-this-

particular-moment. But in terms of propelling myself forward, one recipe at a

time isn't getting me anywhere but broker.

All this, and I'm simultaneously planning my next batch of tamales for some night

this week. Really Sadie. At least I can blame not-drawing on the rain, and can justify

the ingredient-buying with the cafe shifts.

Maybe someday my goals will be a little less immediate.

Meanwhile in the real world, my show is coming down today or tomorrow, I sold

two drawings (!) and I've got some bike stuff for sale at the Revolution Cafe on 22nd

and Bartlett. Since 2 unpaid jobs didn't seem to take up enough of my time, I got a

third, working as a shadow-person with ShadowLight Productions, a shadow puppet

troupe, for a show at the end of May. More news to come, I'm pretty excited about

this one.

And some drawings:

Well I rode my first crummy bike in this city, and let me tell you it was awful!

Good thing the weather was so damn nice, and the bike ride turned quickly

into a beach stroll. Here's the lovely Lucy Mendel modeling her new bike jersey

before the ride to the ocean, with my new floor pump (finally!).

Of course the hearty dinner from the night before helped us make it up the

hills (we swapped bikes a few times). Plantains with chili and cinnamon,

Julia Child's potato leek soup (there was a whole chapter on it, so I had to

try), coconut sticky rice with fresh mango, sesame and sunflower seed mochi

(from a package!), Chinese eggplant with stringbeans, and a whole lotta

margaritas with cayenne salt, courtesy of Jesse.

Julia Child soup:

4 c peeled diced potatoes

3 c finely chopped leeks

2 Q water

3 T butter or coconut oil

salt to taste, maybe a tablespoon

Boil the potatoes and leeks with salt for about 40 or 50 minutes, until the

potatoes are really soft. Mash with a potato masher, fork, or whatever other

implement you have at hand. Stir in butter or coconut oil, salt and pepper to

taste. It was a hit, thanks Julia.

I-don't-know-who, a.k.a. Jimmy requested some workspace photos, and I am

sorry to say that the above photo of food-on-trunk is my dining room table,

and this is my kitchen workspace after a trip to the grocery store.

a request

Well I got a request from I-don't-know-who, to try out making a pasty,

which is a Cornish food, like an empanada crossed with a pie. It can be

sweet or savory, and the filling is traditionally not cooked prior to being

put in the dough.

So I thought I'd give it a shot, and seeing as my farmer's market now sells

delicious fuji apples for a dollar a pound, the obvious choice was a sweet

apple pasty (I think I am going to call it a patsy, that sounds more appealing).

Dough (it made enough dough for 2 of these)

white flour (1 1/4 c)

salt (1/2 t?)

butter (1 stick)

ice water (less than 1/4 cup)

mix flour and salt, squash in the butter with a fork, and slowly add ice

water until the dough just sticks together. I have to say, this is my first

time using both butter and white flour in as long as I can remember, and

it's a piece of cake compared to gluten free-baking, to the point of being

boring. The dough was stretchy, cooperative, easy to roll (even though

I rolled it out with a pint glass), and cooked perfectly.

Anyway, once your dough is mixed enough to form a cohesive ball, wrap

it in something and put it in the fridge or freezer till it's colder. It's

important to keep the butter cold. When it's chilled, roll it out to about

1/8" thickness, fill it, and seal it up. I brushed the top with some of the

sugary liquid left from the apples, but you can also brush it with egg yolk

mixed with water (or nothing). Also poke airholes.

Apple filling:

thinly slice apples

2T flour

1/4c sugar

cinnamon

lemon juice

I baked this at 350 for about an hour.

The result? Damn tasty. Except, it tasted almost too close to something

store bought, which has a weird way of not exciting me.

But I couldn't stop here, so I decided to make an orange-lemon curd to go

with it, and since I had leftover egg whites, had to whip up some macaroons.

So here are some more recipes:

Orange Lemon Curd:

coconut oil or butter

egg yolks

citrus juice

zest

sugar

Proportions here will contribute to making the curd more mousse-like or

more gelatin-like. (more oil or butter will be more gelatin-like). Melt the

oil/butter. Whisk together yolks, juice, zest and sugar, and add it to the oil

over a low flame. Continue to stir or whisk until the mix thickens. This

means the egg yolks are cooked. If you mind raw egg, wait until this happens

to taste your mix and make any adjustments. Chill overnight, or as long as

you can before serving.

Carob Coconut Macaroons

shredded coconut

egg whites

sugar

carob powder (optional of course)

Mix together, taste, adjust, form into balls or whatever shape you'd like,

and bake at 325 for a little under 20 minutes. The egg will hold them

together, and more egg will make them gooier. Mine were pretty dry, but

hold up beautifully.

Happy Tuesday

One from last week at the library. People who are staring into the soul of

a computer monitor never notice you drawing them.

Convenient.

I think I'd like to get back into baking. Because I still lack the patience to even

read a recipe, let alone follow one, this will have to manifest itself in lots of

trial-and-error bowls of goo, and some eating of raw eggs. All good things.

This morning I had apple ginger muffins with my lovely friend Helen.

The key to improvisational baking is knowing what batter should taste like

(since I was once young (and maybe you were too) I have a fond and rather

good memory of that). Also, have a slight clue (but not more than that) of what

your ingredients will be doing as they warm up to your 350+ degrees in the

oven.

So for muffins, you'll want to throw together some combination of:

flour

sugar

baking powder

egg (or more baking powder, or tofu, or banana)

oil (or butter)

That's it! Take the skeleton of a muffin (the substance, the stuff that holds it

together, the stuff that sweetens it, and the stuff that makes it rise) and go

crazy! These muffins had apple slices and finely chopped ginger, with a bit of

cinnamon, vanilla extract, and cacao nibs, and the tail end of my yogurt for a

little moisture. I baked them at 400 until they puffed up and didn't collapse

back in when I poked them, somewhere between 8 and 20 minutes.

instant gratification

my pantry and fridge are both looking a little scattered at the moment,

and coming up with food from thin air was not as easy as it usually is. so

this evening when all i wanted was ice cream, i was at a bit of a loss. but

then i remembered the 1/4 avocado leftover from curry lunch and the

can of coconut milk waiting to be opened, and voila! chocolate pudding.

Chocolate Pudding:

(you'll want a blender)

1/4 avocado

1/4 can coconut milk

1 T cocoa powder

1/2 t vanilla extract

1 t agave nectar or other sweetener

small handful of cashews

put everything in a blender and blend!

adjust cocoa/sugar content to taste

try adding cinnamon, and the tiniest touch of salt.

while instant is good, this pudding is infinitely tastier after chilling, so pace yourself.